Mystery of the Cross

IV LETTER TO

pain, which pierces it through and through. You will see vestiges of this in the chapter on the Internal Crosses The "Internal Crosses" (Croix intérieures) refer to spiritual or psychological sufferings—such as doubt, dryness in prayer, or feelings of abandonment by God—which were seen as necessary for the purification of the soul in 17th-century French mysticism., which are certainly most desolating and death-like: not everyone is led there in the same way; each receives their own dose of the Cross. The more deeply rooted the illness, the stronger and more bitter the medicine must be. The Great Physician A common theological metaphor for God or Christ, who "prescribes" trials to heal the soul's attachment to the self. provides what is appropriate for our ailments. We must not create Crosses for ourselves voluntarily, nor wish for them from God; it is enough to make good use of those He sends, for He alone knows how to measure and prepare them so that they are beneficial to us. On our part, He requires only a passive and submissive fidelity This "passive fidelity" suggests a state of "holy indifference," where the person remains faithful to God without trying to control the outcome of their trials., in patience and abandonment abandon: the spiritual practice of surrendering one's own will and future entirely to God's providence; everything else will turn out well.

V.

It is in vain that one reasons about contented poverty while in the midst of abundance, or about contempt for the world, when